Love Letters
I’ve had a business in Bondi Beach for 27 years, and in that time I’ve seen some pretty strange retail concepts come and go. There’s been Doglato, gelato for dogs. A Zeitgeist milk bar, a milk bar without milk. Kanye West’s Pablo pop-up, which opened and I’m still not entirely sure what was going on […]
Back to the beach
We’re in for one hell of a good-looking week on the coast. Have you seen the forecast? Tuesday is looking like 24 degrees, Wednesday 26, and then Saturday is shaping up as a 100% beach day — 26–27 degrees before things cool back down on Sunday. Shed the winter puffers. Dig out the beach umbrellas. […]
Bondi Sushi
Looks like we’ve got a resident white shark calling Bondi home at the moment. It’s tormenting us, messing with us…arriving every day at precisely 6:41am at Ramp 2, basically where Bondi’s best surfing bank is right now. Why? People have plenty of theories: aliens, water temperatures, voodoo. But I reckon it could be simpler than […]
Planetary Alignment
I don’t say this often, but Bondi was in its prime this morning. I’m not entirely sure why. The forecast was calling 0-1 foot, and looking at the beach right now at 11am, it really is 0-1 foot. But for one brief, glorious moment, those keeping a close eye on the left were rewarded. The […]
1 – 0
Bondi was weirdly empty this morning. Oh yeah – I’m back. Miss me? Where was everyone? Indoors watching Spain knock off Argentina in the World Cup final, perhaps. The match kicked off at 5am Sydney time and dragged deep into extra time – right across Bondi’s peak sunrise exercise hour. Spain eventually pinched it 1-0, […]
Boardies to Beanies
Today marks the first day of winter, and there are definitely pros and cons to the seasonal shift. The pros? Winter generally delivers better waves. You can surf most days, the crowds thin out considerably, and not many people are keen to brave those icy westerlies before sunrise. The light is incredible too – clean, […]
Sun’s out. Finally.
I’ve been a little absent on the blogging front lately, mostly because the weather’s been serving up relentless gloom. Today was the first proper sighting of sunshine in what feels like forever. That annoying drizzle has been non-stop — enough to knock out Vivid drone shows and pump so much moisture into the air that […]
Ben Buckler Gold
There’s a particular quality of light in Bondi in late April. Low enough now that it comes in sideways at dawn — squeezing through the buildings of Ben Buckler. The ocean’s glassy and squeaky clean, but flat. Not a wave worth riding. The nor’easter will fix that this arvo, though only after a comfortable 22 […]
Friday Froth
I thought it was going to be a little offshore — or at least very, very light — this morning, but nope. The onshore was in early, blowing 10 knots plus, and really deteriorating the wave quality. Yes, the swell dropped a lot, which is a good thing, as it wasn’t so rogue… but it […]
2s or 10s
Plenty of horrible 6-foot closeouts all morning — then one super hollow funnel with a surfer standing tall inside the womb. So it’s either a 2 or a 10 today… very random, with a solid swell jump. With the onshore breeze, I’ll pass and wait for tomorrow — half the size with clean offshores. Sun’s […]
Rogue Pulse
The swell has gone rogue and the mercury has plummeted—quite different to recent weeks. I was just getting very comfortable with 24-degree water and summery days on repeat. Holidays over. Bondi is breaking two to three times overhead. I saw one surfer out in the middle; he caught a single wave and went home. That […]
Egg Hunt
In memory, this has to be one of the best Easters on record — and the good times just keep rolling. Where do I start? The water’s been impeccable. Warm days, cool nights. Ocean like a bath — I’ve gone days without a scrap of wetsuit rubber. And waves… every single day we’ve found them. […]
Coal, Coastlines & A Change
Well… we were banking on a bit more swell than what dribbled in overnight. Instead, we got a limp little 1–2 foot wobble. Crowded, a touch sketchy, wrapped in gloomy grey skies. Nothing special. If you rolled over and skipped it — you didn’t miss a thing. Rather than force-feed you ten grey photos of […]